Your Own Delicious Caribbean Food

The London Cooking Project in Battersea was the setting for, Tantie Lorraine’s Carnival Party Food workshop which proved to be a beneficial investment in Trinidadian cuisine, culture and tradition.

Held on Saturday 2 March the intimate class successfully armed the attendees with the techniques, confidence and know how to further practice and replicate the making of some of Trinidad’s most favourite street foods.

Being held on what was Carnival Saturday in Trinidad and having soca music in the background and Tantie Lorraine’s rum punch to sip on throughout the four hours, certainly enhanced the experience to say the very least.

With all the ingredients provided for you to create ample portions of food to take home, when you do the math and consider the skills and knowledge you gain at the workshop, it really is a bargain. Plus there’s nothing like putting your own creative spin on a recipe to make it bespoke. What it also does is unearth your hidden talents and show your relationship to food.

On the menu was corn soup, pholourie, doubles, cucumber chutney and tamarind dip. For me the highlights were conquering the oil temperature, (having to take the pot off the heat), so that the pholourie cooked right through properly without being too crispy on the outside and the mouth-watering taste of my slightly thick doubles that had my personal preferred amounts of channa, cucumber chutney and the exact amount of pepper I like. Plus the way the flavour of my corn soup improved after it sat for a while.

Lorraine Frederick who also makes award winning jams, chutney and pepper sauce, has been running workshops since 2017. She is keen to stress the importance of respecting and valuing Caribbean food and knowing the tradition, history, techniques, recipes and struggle behind it. Unless this knowledge is passed on, a new generation of children will grow up not knowing what authentic Caribbean cuisine is and accepting substitute fusion dishes with the name, as authentic.

Tantie Lorraine’s next workshops are on Sunday 17 March and will include Caribbean Canapé’s and One Pot – Trinidadian Pelau. I highly recommend you seize the opportunity!